truesee's Blog

Pants man holds up petrol station

 

Published: 7:00AM BST 31 Jul 2009

The crook burst into the BP garage on London Road in Clacton, Essex, with the elastic of the white pants pulled over his face and his eyes peering through the leg hole Photo: ESSEX POLICE

The man, who was armed with a carving knife, robbed the garage in Clacton, Essex, at about 11pm on Tuesday.

The crook burst into the BP garage on London Road in Clacton, Essex, with the elastic of the white pants pulled over his face and his eyes peering through the leg holes.

He grabbed the cashier in a headlock, pointed the serrated knife at his back and forced him to open the till before escaping with a three-figure sum in banknotes.

Detective Sergeant Kevin Cooper of Essex police appealed for any witnesses to the raid at around 10.50pm on Tuesday to come forward.

He said: "This was a nasty incident in which the robber used force and threatened the cashier with a knife. The cashier was unharmed but obviously badly shaken.

"We want to hear from anyone with information about the robber or may have seen him lurking in the area before the attack or saw him running away."

The suspect is described as a white man in his early 20s, six feet tall of medium build, and wearing a black Adidas tracksuit with three white stripes and dark coloured trainers.

"This was a nasty incident in which the robber used force and threatened the cashier with a knife. The cashier was unharmed but obviously badly shaken."

Friday, July 31, 2009

Cops say restaurant manager threatened to shoot employees

BOB VOSSELLER

Asbury Park Press

STAFF WRITER

July 31, 2009

STAFFORD — A Mays Landing man who worked as the manager of an IHOP in Manahawkin was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, making terroristic threats and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose on July 26.

Steven Brooks' bail was set at $50,000 following his arrest by Det. Joseph Mrazek. He has been released from the Ocean County Jail in Toms River.

A police report states that on July 25 Brooks, 49, allegedly confronted three employees about company policy at the IHOP while the employees were on break. During the confrontation Brooks allegedly told the employees to go back into the restaurant or he was going to shoot them. According to the police, when one of the employees made a sarcastic comment, Brooks became agitated and walked to his vehicle, a black Toyota, reached into the rear passenger seat and pulled out a silver handgun.
Brooks then allegedly pointed the gun at the employees and stated to them to step back or he would shoot. He then left the scene in his vehicle.

Further investigation revealed the gun Brooks was in possession of was a pellet/BB gun. He was arrested in the IHOP parking lot the following morning and a search warrant was executed on his Merion Court, Mays Landing residence.

The search revealed two pellet/BB guns which he owned along with a shotgun and two handguns which were legally owned by another occupant of the residence.

Tenants say A/C banned by landlord despite record heat wave

Story Created: Jul 30, 2009 at 4:08 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jul 30, 2009 at 4:08 PM PDT

Anita Kissee KATU News

LINK TO PHOTO AND VIDEO:

http://www.kval.com/blogs/weather/52111507.html

ALOHA, Ore. – As people around the region try to keep cool and safe in the triple-digit heat wave, tenants at one apartment complex in Aloha say they have been told not to install air conditioning units in their windows.

One stated reason tenants said they were given by the landlord: they look “tacky.”

That’s what tenants at the Arbor Creek complex in Aloha told KATU News on Wednesday as the temperature soared to 106 degrees in Portland, just one degree shy of the all-time high for the city.

But in outlying locations like Aloha, some thermometers were reading 107 or even 108 degrees.

Inside Jessica Burnette’s apartment, a thermometer registered 95 degrees. Nearby, Shanna Frettim said she got a note from the landlord telling her to remove her window unit or she could be evicted.

“They sent me notices telling me if I did not take it out I would have a ten day period to get out of my apartment,” Frettim said.

“As a matter of fact, on these notices it says ‘for the benefits of the residences,’” Frettim added. “I am wondering how that ‘benefits the residents’ when they can't have air conditioners.  How does that benefit us? Our kids end up in the hospitals or they end up sick.”

A check of the rental agreements and property rules supplied by tenants by contained no mention of a ban on A/C window units.

Frettim said she was told that if she wanted A/C, she had to have it professionally installed at a cost of about $500, which she says she cannot afford.

Another tenant who wanted to remain anonymous installed an unauthorized window unit in a back bedroom. The temperature in the room dropped from the 90s to a comfortable 74 degrees in minutes after the machine was turned on.

Tenant Angela Powell installed a window unit in her apartment against the alleged regulations because she said she could find no rule or stipulation prohibiting it.

Calls to the property management company that runs the Arbor Creek complex went to voice mail and no calls were immediately returned. Emails have also not been answered.

A maintenance person who works on the property was reached by phone but declined to say where the rule banning A/C units could be found or who could help tenants and KATU News find the stipulation.

“How can they make up rules we didn't sign on?” Jessica Burnett asked. “People die in this weather… our kids are up all night complaining of tummy aches and stuff because they're heat sick.”

Neighbors claimed one child has already been hospitalized with heat stroke.

Burnett said she does not have health insurance.

KATU News is continuing an investigation related to this story.

Va. Beach councilman seeks permit to sell guns from home

VIRGINIA BEACH

Councilman Bill DeSteph said, if approved by the city, he will apply for a federal permit to be a licensed dealer.

Councilman Bill DeSteph has applied to the city for a permit to sell guns out of a Great Neck home he will be moving into later this summer.

DeSteph, a gun collector, said he wants to expand his hobby into a business.

If the City Council approves the permit, DeSteph said he will apply to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for a permit to be a licensed dealer.

“Once you’re clear with city zoning, the federal requirements for dealers are the same out of your house or a storefront,” ATF inspector Michael Adkins said.

Three people in Virginia Beach have city permits to sell guns from their homes, city records show.

DeSteph added a 17-by-10 foot concrete vault to the home to store firearms.

His targeted clientele listed in the permit application includes “elected officials, law enforcement, military and other dealers and collectors.”

“We have other elected officials who collect guns,” he said.

DeSteph wasn’t sure how many guns he owns.

“Honestly, I’d have to count,” he said.

He estimated he has close to 20, including pistols, shotguns, rifles and machine guns. Part of his collection is of machine guns manufactured before 1986, the year federal legislation banned civilians from owning machine guns manufactured after that date, he said. As a result, those guns tend to be valuable.

“The good thing is they appreciated on average 10 to 15 percent a year,” DeSteph said. “They are a darn good investment. Some people collect art, I collect guns.”

DeSteph’s application will be evaluated mainly for zoning issues, such as land use, traffic, number of employees and signage, said Karen Lasley, the city’s zoning administrator.

“You can’t just hang out a shingle and have people walk off the street,” she said.

JULY 31--This week's mug shot roundup kicks off with a group of arrestees who were nabbed Thursday night in Florida on grand theft charges. The young perps are aged, clockwise from upper left, 10, 12, 12, and 12. As for the remaining suspects, the pictures speak for themselves

LINK TO PIXS:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0731092mugs1.html?46

Man gets 16 years after licking speed off jail cell floor

A Texas man pleaded guilty to drug possession after he was caught on camera licking a white powder off a jail cell floor in 2008. 

Delmast, you dog you!

Grayson County prosecutors used the video to get Samuel Dewayne Delmast 16 years in prison for possession of methamphetamine found on him during a traffic stop in Howe, MyFox National reports. It was unclear how much of the drug was confiscated. 

After his arrest, the 32-year-old man was taken to a holding cell where a closed circuit camera caught the image of more white powder slipping out of his pants. Delmast then dropped to the floor and lapped up the substance later determined to be methamphetamine. 

Confronted with the video, Delmast pleaded guilty to the charges. 

One way to speed up a trial.

Police: Greensburg bank robbery suspect admits holdup five years ago

Bob Stiles
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 30, 2009

LINK TO PHOTO:

 http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_635975.html

Downtown Fort Myers condo has 32 stories, and one lonely tale

Condo can get spooky for tower's only family

DICK HOGAN

News-Press

July 30, 2009

PHOTO GALLERY:

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=A4&Dato=20090730&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=907300803&Ref=PH

Victor Vangelakos lives in a luxury condominium tower on the Caloosahatchee River. He never has to worry about the neighbors making too much noise.
There are no neighbors.

Vangelakos, 45, his wife Cathy and their three children are the only residents in the 32-story Oasis I condo on the east edge of downtown Fort Myers.

The 45-year-old Weehawken, N.J., firefighter bought the condo from Miami-based The Related Group for $430,000 and closed on it in November. He planned to make it a vacation getaway and eventually his full-time residence when he retires in four years.

But prices have fallen hard since the real estate bubble burst in early 2006. Only a handful of those who put down deposits on the tower’s units actually closed on the deal. Those who did have swapped their Oasis I units for condos in Oasis II next door.

Vangelakos didn’t, because he was unable to convince his lender to agree to the swap, said Betsy Lu McCoy, vice president and associate corporate counsel for Related.

That leaves the Vangelakos family splitting their time between New Jersey and a creepy, surreal life in Oasis I.

They’re the only ones using a well-appointed clubhouse, but they can’t watch the big plasma TV.

“We haven’t found the remote controls,” Victor said.

Pause for a moment anywhere in the building during the day and the silence is deafening.

At night, Vangelakos said, they often hear people on the grounds or even inside the building itself. It’s not hard to break in one of the many entrances.

Once, late at night, “Somebody banged on our door,” Vanelakos said.

It wouldn’t have been hard to find the person in the otherwise darkened building.
“At night,” he said, “you can see our TV from the street.”

Especially popular for intruders is the swimming pool, Vangelakos said. They heard people there one night “and the next day all our chairs were in the pool."

His relationship with Related is testy at best. Once, he said, when management turned off his water to fix a leak in a pipe, “we came back 10 days later and the water was off but our TV was on.”

Now, after months of exchanging letters with Related about building maintenance and other issues, Vangelakos said he just wants out.

He hasn’t filed a lawsuit but his attorney, Fort Lauderdale-based John Ewing, said Related hasn’t delivered the marina, pro shop and fancy restaurants that were promised.

“They have the ability to buy him out,” Ewing said. “They can resolve this in a fair way.”
McCoy said it’s not that simple.

“His concerns have not fallen on deaf ears,” she said, but it isn’t Related’s fault he hasn’t been able to persuade his lender, JP Morgan Chase Bank, to transfer the mortgage to a unit in Oasis II.

“What he paid went to our lender, it didn’t come to us,” McCoy noted, so Related would have to pay off the mortgage before it got the unit back.

Besides, she said, the situation is the result of market forces beyond anyone’s control.

“We did not foresee, nor did anyone else foresee, the collapse of the real estate business and the concurrent collapse of the lending industry,” McCoy said. “They’re caught and we’re caught.”

Victor Vangelakos, a New Jersey firefighter, looks out from his seventh-floor apartment balcony at the 32-story Oasis I in downtown Fort Myers. He and his family are the only residents in the building. (Valerie Roche/news-press.com)

Texting-while-driving truck driver crashes into swimming pool

LOCKPORT — The driver of a tow truck texting on one cell phone while talking on another Wednesday morning crashed into a car at Tonawanda Creek Road North near Willow Wood Drive, injuring a woman and her niece, Niagara County sheriff's deputies said.

The flatbed tow truck then crashed through a fence and into a house before ending up in a swimming pool.

Chief Deputy Steven Preisch said the driver of the Adams tow truck, identified as Nicholas Sparks, 25, of Burt, admitted he was both texting and talking just after 8 a.m., when he hit the car on Willow Wood, which was stopped to make a turn.

"According to witnesses, he did not even stop, slow down or hit the brakes," Preisch said.

Sparks was charged with reckless driving, talking on a cell phone and following too closely. Preisch said deputies will be seizing his two cell phones and will request search warrants for the phone records to verify allegations the driver was talking on the phone.

"It's crazy the law [for texting while driving] is on the governor's desk. But it's irresponsible," Preisch said. "Here's an example where technology is progressing faster than the bureaucracy and laws can keep up. It doesn't make common sense."

Sparks was heading east on Tonawanda Creek Road North when he rear-ended the car of Lily White, 68, of Lockport, who suffered head injuries and was taken by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo. She was listed in good condition.

Her great-niece, Kiara McDowell, 8, of the Town of Lockport, who was in the rear seat, was taken to Women & Children's Hospital, Buffalo, for treatment of wrist injuries, Preisch said. She was later released. Sparks also was treated in ECMC for back and neck injuries.

Preisch said the flatbed truck was towing two vehicles, with two motor cycles on the bed.

Preisch said that after the collision with the car, the flatbed went through a yard and sideswiped a house at 6369 Tonawanda Creek, with one of the towed vehicles hitting the house, then continued through a privacy fence and into the in-ground pool.

He said the cleanup at the house, owned by Brad Kanel, took more than five hours. He said it was hard finding a truck big enough to pull the flatbed out of the family's pool.

A damage estimate was being tabulated.

Mother allergic to own baby

07/29/2009 12:02 CDT

Britain's most avid reader, 91, has borrowed 25,000 library books

 

By Simon Johnson

Daily Telegraph
Published: 2:53PM BST 29 Jul 2009

Louise Brown: She borrows mainly large print books because she is partially sighted, and has almost worked her way through her local library's entire stock.

Louise Brown, 91, has read up to a dozen books a week since 1946 without incurring a single fine for late returns.

She borrows mainly large print books because she is partially sighted, and has almost worked her way through her local library's entire stock

Library staff in Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, say the pensioner's rapacious reading habits over 60 years could earn her a place in the record books.

Mrs Brown, a widow, said: "My parents were great readers and I've always loved books. I started reading when I was five and have never stopped. I like anything I can get my hands on."

She said her favourite genres are family sagas, historical novels and war stories, but added: "I also like Mills and Boon for light reading at night."

She said she had read too many books to have a favourite or top five, but if she had to choose a preferred genre it would be family sagas or historical novels.

Louise Pride, her daughter, said: "She has aids to help her sight and usually borrows large print books. But the trouble is she has read nearly all of them in the local library. She still finds time to ready a newspaper every day and to watch TV."

Welsh-born Mrs Brown joined a library in Castle Douglas, near Stranraer, in 1946 when she moved there after getting married.

Seven years ago she moved to Stranraer to live with her daughter and has been regularly borrowing books from the library ever since.

Over the past six decades she has borrowed at least six books every week throughout each year and has recently increased that to about 12 every seven days.

Janice Goldie, of Dumfries and Galloway Libraries, said: "We are amazed at Mrs Brown's achievements. When she first joined the library service she was allowed to borrow six books a week. This has now risen to 12 and she always takes her full quota.

"Although she has borrowed nearly 25,000 books, she has never once had to pay an overdue charge.The staff at Stranraer Library think she's a remarkable lady and look forward to her weekly visits. They would like to know if anyone can beat her reading record."